Update 10/4/14: The price has now dropped another $35 to a very low $214.99. The phones are still available in black and silver, while blue is sold out.

If you need a great phone and aren't interested in a contract, but you're willing to compromise on what's technically the cutting edge, you're in a good position to save a bit of money. For example, take this perfectly good 32GB HTC One M7 (that's the one before the one they're selling now). If you're OK with a refurbished phone, you can pick up a white or black one from eBay for $249.99, well below the retail price. At the moment Amazon's selling the new version for almost $500.

Two hundred and fifty bones will get you last year's flagship model, which is still a metal-clad, 1080p, quad-core 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM beast running Android 4.4. This is the AT&T variant of the HTC One, but thanks to its SIM-unlocked condition (according to the reseller), it should play nice on most international 3G and LTE networks. (But not non-AT&T LTE bands in the States, of course.) According to the listing, the phone comes with an HTC warranty. The terms aren't posted, but most refurbished goods get a 90-day term.

The seller is shipping "worldwide," but that excludes Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America, Mexico, and strangely, Cyprus, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. So... I guess if you live in the US, Canada, Australia, or western Europe, you're good to go. Americans get free standard shipping, and those of us living outside California can skip the sales tax as well. If you want one of these phones, move fast: they've sold over 300 already, and there might not be that many left.

Michael is a native Texan and a former graphic designer. He's been covering technology in general and Android in particular since 2011. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.

Comments

Michael Tran

hmm....first it was the LG G2 at this price and now the M7. I hope this is a trend that continues.

silver_arrow

I see no reason why OEM's shouldnt do this. Do we need a new lower end phone or could we just use last years flagship. That's what Samsung and Apple do. They reduce the price on older models to fill the spaces.

the milkman

It's all about money.

http://www.bloodflame.com/ Patrick

Not to mention, I just recently snagged up a brand new (read: not refurbished) Sony Xperia Z Ultra Google Play Edition for half of its retail value. All in all, this is definitely a good time to be upgrading, even if it's not to the latest and greatest. The Z Ultra, G2, and One M7 are all great phones in their own right, even at the end of their life cycle. With IFA around the corner, it's no surprise these older models are clearing out.

Noelani Lois

Last six months, after I lost my job, I started working online and I've been averaging 15k a month since... It was a gift from heaven that I stumbled upon this website... The best thing was that cause I am not that computer savvy all I needed was some basic typing skills and internet access to start earning online... This is where to start>WagePress.com

AnnetteGridleyame

my parents in law recently purchased an awesome black Honda Pilot SUV from only workin parttime on a home computer...you could try this out EARNING OPPORTUNITY

Chris

But where's the link I need to click to make tons of money from the comfort of my own home?

DaveTexan

M7 is a great phone. But to me it is still a slight downgrade from G2...

xanok

It came out several months prior, so naturally the specs aren't as high.

Tuấn Ankh

I might have bought this instead of an M8 if it came a week sooner...
Now I'm thinking whether I should just return my M8 and buy this. The price is really good. xD

J_Pod

Sad, AT&T only.

Adil Tajgeer

it's unlocked, so aside from cdma based carriers, you should be okay for most gsm ones...

dude

What about the bootloader?

RollTribe

I think the M7 is still unlockable through HTCDev, no?

james fuston

If AT&T's prepaid was anywhere near decent, this would be worth considering for me.

ProductFRED

Cricket has 10GB for 55 a month after the 5 dollar autopay discount I think. Cricket is owned by at&t and runs on their network. Only catch is they throttle LTE to 8 Mbps and HSPA+ to 4 Mbps.

Sen

Does this mobile support T mobile LTE ? confused of the term (But not non-AT&T LTE bands in the States, of course.)

Adil Tajgeer

i don't think so, but if you live in a refarmed area, you should get hspa+ at least, which i hear is quite speedy on tmo.

BUT, they both seem to use 1700mhz band 4, so maybe if tmo is using that where you are you should get it, but i think band 4 isn't being used much in general by att, so you may be out of luck.

ProductFRED

It supports T-Mobile US LTE but won't get their primary HSPA+ band. That's not a big deal though because they're moving to PCS (1900 MHz) for HSPA+. What this translates to in plain English is, for now, if you're using this phone on T-Mobile and you are in an area with no LTE, you may go down to EDGE while T-Mobile phones fall back to HSPA+.

You should also be able to flash a ROM for the T-Mobile M7 to add Wifi Calling.

Andre

Question: what LTE bands does this support? I'd be interested in using it on Telstra in Australia but can't find what capability the AT&T version has ...

David Li

Same bands as the developer version: Bands 2,4,5,17 LTE and 850,1900,2100 WCDMA/HSPA

Andre

Thanks. 3G is all good but Telstra is using 1800 for LTE unfortunately. Bugger.

edward

I got a nexus 5 black new from Tmobile for 149.99.so like 5.50 a month.not bad.I had a nexus 4 for almost 2 years and then all of a sudden the battery kept getting hot.maybe it had its time.they switched out my nexus 4 for another 4 and then they gave me a deal on the 5 because of all the troubles .I was like "OK"

Shayn

I have the m7 and it still impresses me 18 months later. This deal is a steal!

wuf

this is sooo tempting... I have n N5 but I do miss the nice slick metallic feeling... I try to justify it at least for someone alse...maybe as a gift to someone... :)

RH

Better bang for the buck is "last years" model. Unless there is some must have feature, the last year flagship almost always offers a better ROI. Heck, I bought a Huawei Mate2 in July and it runs GREAT, and 2-3 day battery life isn't anything to sneeze at. $300 bucks, unlocked, shipped! Compared to a Galaxy S5 under contract, with the MVNO I use, I say about $81 dollars PER MONTH, nothing to sneeze at.

Alex

I got one and converted it to developer edition for faster OTA updates and am using it on T-Mobile LTE